Ares Denetsu
by Purple Mongoose
Summary: Sequel to 'Ai no Yume.' In which dark things befall a youthened Rei and her new ally Gohan. [Complete]
1. Prelude

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Prelude  
  
  
Ginzishou sharpened her claws along the length of the Chain Wink Sword, which was constructed of a hardened poisonous rock that chipped her diamond claws into points without harming the blade in any way whatsoever. The voices of Minako and Juunanagou were increasing in pitch as they snarled at each other, put on edge by the recent events. Counting silently to herself, the female, Odango-sized dragon waited patiently for all of five seconds before Minako stormed down the hall of the Kame House Master Roshi lived in; the large group had departed for the hentai turtle master's place for his supposed expert advice. Angrily snatching the hilt of the Chain Wink Sword up, Minako paid no heed as Ginzishou squawked, thrown gracelessly to the ground.   
  
"I hate him, I hate him, I hate him," she heard the enraged Senshi of Venus chant under her breath, swinging the blade into action in an elaborate spar against an imaginary opponent.   
  
Ginzishou spread her light, paper-thin (and yet surprisingly steel-strong) silver wings, alighting into the air and landing gracefully on Minako's jerking shoulder. "Lying does not suit you, Venus-hime," she murmured warningly in Minako's ear, through the thick golden locks of her blonde hair.  
  
With an exasperated sigh, Minako tossed the blade down, plopping to the ground and tapping her head back against the wall in the darkened hallway.  
  
"How do I know if I truly love him, Ginzishou-ryuu?" she finally asked, feeling the comfortably familiar weight of her new advisor and the gentle brush of her soft spinal spines, "How can I tell?"  
  
"That, Venus-hime," Ginzishou pointed out, hissing blissfully when the leather-dressed girl scratched her soft-scaled chin, "is something only you can answer."  
  
"I've only known him for ten days," Minako was quick to point out, stroking the tiny dragon's gently sloping back, "not like the other Senshi, who've known _their_ crushes for a month, at least. Well…I think."  
  
"So? You loved your parents the first moment you opened your eyes," Ginzishou pointed out herself.  
  
"That's a different kind of love!" Minako protested.  
  
Ginzishou shrugged. "It still is love, Venus-hime. Love is love and that's all I see to it."  
  
"Oh, why am I talking to you for advice? You're a dragon from a jewel," she sighed, slumping back even further to slide down the wall.  
  
"Excuse me?" Ginzishou cried indignantly, swelling up, "I am not just a dragon, your highness! I am a royal aid! And as such, it is my duty to inform you that I know many things on var-"  
  
Minako had clamped her hand over Ginzishou's mouth and she laughed. "Enough, enough! I hear you, little dragon!" She pulled her hand off of Ginzishou's mouth and the dragon sneezed, delicately bringing a clawed paw up to her wiry whiskers to brush them back into place.  
  
"As for Mars-hime and the boy, Gohan…have you any ideas as to how we shall destroy Metallia and the resurrected creature, Cell?"  
  
"Well," Minako smiled coldly, lifting the poisonous Chain Wink Sword up to her face, the flat side facing her, "I haven't a damn as to who this Cell person is," she turned the blade so that the sharp, deadly edge was facing the two, "but I will kill him and Metallia with this blade and I will destroy them, burning them, and seal them away in hell."  
  
Ginzishou smiled grimly. "That is exactly what I wanted to hear."  
  
(*)  
  
Groaning softly in the dark, Hino Rei stiffly sat up, blood staining her oversized clothes, which were matted to her flat chest by sweat, blood, and some goop she didn't want to know the name of. Why was her chest flat? Dimly, she realized that Metallia had made true on her word, Rei was ten years old again. It had been strange, hearing her voice saying things, cruel things, and feeling so very detached from it all, not caring, only drifting…drifting away…  
  
"Are you all right?" the voice of a boy asked, his hand reaching out to feel her blood-covered face and tangled raven locks. "I don't know where we are, I'm sorry, miss…I tried to power up, but…oh, sorry. I'm probably confusing you," the boy apologized and she felt tears stinging her eyes. He sounded young, like a young teenager, but she could hear _his_ voice in it. Gohan's voice.  
  
"Gohan…?" she asked in a tiny voice, sounding so very defenseless and young. "I'm scared…" And she was. She was terrified and lonely and so utterly tired of all the pain and misery.  
  
Gohan awkwardly pulled her into a crude hug, unable to see far in the absolute darkness, not even with his Saiya-jin eyes.  
  
"It'll be okay, miss…?" he comforted, not knowing her name.  
  
"Rei," she sniffled, "watashi wa Rei."  
  
"Well, Rei-chan, it'll be okay."  
  
"Actually, little boy, I'm afraid it won't," a woman's voice interjected and a previously unnoticed door swung open, its thick metal weight loudly ringing as it slammed into the hard wall. Super Sailor Mars, or Metallia, smirked in the doorway, her beautiful features twisted by the haughty sneer she wore on her face. "I hope you're comfortable, Rei, I took the liberty of separating your civilian form from your Senshi form. You can be normal now, doing all the things a normal little girl does. Oh, wait," she paused, smirking even wider, "I'm going to kill you after I have no more need for these bodies. Oops. My mistake."  
  
"Are you done tormenting the children?" a clearly irritated man's voice interrupted.  
  
Gohan tensed, staring mutely at the dark doorway as a tall, horrific figure stepped forward.   
  
"Cell…," he breathed, twisting his face in anger and fear.  
  
"Perfect Cell, truthfully," Cell laughed shortly, "Metallia found a way for me to forgo the formalities and troubles of eating the Jinzouningen. Nasty little buggers, they were. Instead, I got to rip apart a few beings, to insure they were dead, and then I got to eat them. Amazing power levels for a geek in a tuxedo and a couple of cats."  
  
"Endymion-ouji…? Artemis-san? Luna-san?" Rei whispered, eyes wide and unbelieving.  
  
"Oh, tsk, tsk," Metallia teased, wagging a dainty gloved finger in a no-no fashion, "you mustn't keep your mouth open like that. You never know what parasites lurk in these little dungeons."  
  
"Quiet right, koibito," Cell agreed, turning to look at Metallia with a look that made Gohan feel sick and had Rei wanting to scream, "That's my body, you filthy, stinking male whore!"  
  
Lustfully, Metallia returned the gaze and blew the two children a sarcastic kiss. "Cheerio, darlings, as you are so fond of saying in that British country! And don't elt the bed bugs bite! They're big enough to eat you right up!" She made a snapping noise with her jaw, playfully clapping her hands together in a sinister way. Then she smiled, a malignant motion. "And if they don't…" Her voice lowered. "I will."  
  
She slammed the door shut behind her, locking it, and followed Cell away from the dungeon.  
  
"I hate her," Rei said in a low, threatening voice, "and I want to kill her."  
  
"I agree," Gohan concurred.  
  
Shivering, they drew closer, gathering warmth in the empty loneliness of the chill cellars.  
  
  
  
  
  
Welpers, that's the prelude! Wow, it's longer than the one for "Ai no Yume"! Cool! Maybe that means I'll write longer chapters for this!…yeah, right, and pigs fly in cereal bowls.  
  
…that'd be neat! Er, excuse me…  
  
This is for all the people who asked me to write more! Yay! Thanks a million!  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
[PS~ I've wrote it before, I'll write it again. Please review! Even if you write 'this sucks' or 'good' or another short little thing, I'd really appreciate it! Domo arigatou!]  
  
[PSS~ Anyone else really grossed out by the idea of Metallia in Super Sailor Mars' body having 'x' with Cell?…I need therapy. I need it very badly.]  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	2. Just the Two of Us

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Just the Two of Us  
  
  
"I wish my otousan was here," Gohan said abruptly, knees pulled up to his chest, arms on his knees and chin resting on his arms. "He'd know what to do." Thinking of Gokuu always made the situation seem a bit brighter as well as dimmer. "I was so proud of him…but Cell killed him…"  
  
"I'm sorry," Rei whispered, leaning against him, eyes wet with tears. "I wish I could have been proud of my father, but he left me with my grandfather. It hurt when I finally got old enough to know what it actually meant, not having a father to talk to. It must've hurt worse for you because you did have a father to talk to."  
  
"I wouldn't know," his voice was muffled for he had dropped his forehead into his arms, chin pressed against his chest, "I'm not you, so I don't know how much you hurt."  
  
Rei blinked and smiled softly in the dark, her ten-year old face tired and covered with sickly-sweet smelling rust-colored blood. "You're the first person I've ever met who's been that sensitive," she told him shyly, leaning against him, fiddling with the ends of his black hair.  
  
He stiffened, then relaxed, letting the new 10-year old girl rest on his shoulder. "Rei-chan…d'you think we'll make it out alive?" he asked quietly, staring unseeingly.  
  
"Of course we are," she reassured him, "we've got a team of the most powerful warriors in the universe."  
  
(*)  
  
"I'll poke you with my sword, by God, I will!"  
  
Minako bared her teeth aggressively, cocking back her wrist so the heel of her hand was a mere centimeter away from the sheathed Chain Wink Sword tied to her waist. Juunanagou smirked and fell into a crouching position, ready and eager to fight. "If you want to fight me," the android laughed shortly, "it's your death wish."  
  
"Oh, you _so_ keep on dreaming," Minako tossed back, half-unsheathing her sword before the tall shape of Juuhachigou stepped between the two while the rest looked on in interest (especially Roshi).  
  
"Now children," she said gently, grabbing Juunanagou's fist with one hand and placing the other on the hand Minako was using to whip out her blade, "we don't have time to fight. Act mature long enough to save our friends. Truce?"  
  
"Truce," Juunanagou grunted, resisting the urge to stick his tongue out childishly at Minako.  
  
"Truce," Minako mumbled grudgingly, then stuck her tongue out, having no qualms about childish behavior.  
  
He, in response, made a naughty gesture with his finger that had Juuhachigou giving him THE LOOK © (the one which only those of the female gender can wield, the one that renders anything or anyone helpless- -particularly all males, the one that promises VERY slow-and-painful death) and Ginzishou fluttering around his head indignantly.  
  
Minako stiffened, blinked rapidly, and Makoto could have sworn she saw tears in her friend's pretty blue eyes, slowly welling up. Recognition of the barely hidden pain in the blonde's crystal eyes slammed into Makoto's gut and she felt sympathy, deep and true, for the quivering girl.  
  
"Mina-chan," she whispered softly, voice low enough so that none of the others (except for possibly Juuhachigou) could hear, "do you care for Juunanagou-kun?"  
  
"No," Minako gritted forcefully and an instant smile cracked across Makoto's face.  
  
"De Nile is big in Egypt, I've heard," the Senshi of Jupiter drawled and the Senshi of Venus considered smacking her with the Chain Wink Sword.  
  
Juuhachigou grinned broadly, letting one hand fall to Kuririn's shoulder as Minako muttered darkly and Juunanagou twiddled his light fingers, almost as if he was completely bored. But he was watching Minako out of the corner of his ice blue eyes, protectively, but secretly.  
  
Buruma caught the android woman's eye and winked, having noticed the casual behavior as well.  
  
Perhaps it was time for Buruma, matchmaker supreme, to arise once more and bring to life the embers of a new true lo-!   
  
Vejiita fixed her with a withering glare and she grinned weakly, absently bouncing infant Trunks in her arms.  
  
"Anybody have any suggestions as to how we're gonna get back Gohan and that girl?" Kuririn asked quickly, before violence between marital couples and non-marital/ (non) couples could break out.  
  
"Plan?" Yamucha blinked. "We plan? I thought we just, I dunno, threw ourselves headlong into intergalactic wars and got our God forsaken asses kicked before Goku or Gohan saved us." Suddenly, he cast a nervous glance at Chichi, seeing her tight, pinched face, trying to hold her tears in. "I'm sorry, Chichi…"  
  
"It's okay, Yamucha," the woman forced a smile to her face, her lips quavering, "I'm fine."  
  
Ami had been quietly typing away (with all the speed of an automatic machine gun) at her small, palm-sized Mercury computer, the visor she wore as Super Sailor Mercury in place (privately, Minako wondered how the petite woman had gotten the Mercury stuff to work with her civilian form…before remembering the Chain Wink Sword of Venus strapped snugly to her hip) and translating the information at mind-numbing speeds right into her pupils. "I think I might be able to locate the two," Ami muttered softly, scanning the information swiftly once more. "I have samples of our Senshi auras and, if Metallia has separated Rei and Mars, we should be able to track Metallia down, as well as our lost companions and that Cell creature you keep mentioning." Ami took a deep breath, fingering her blue locks absently. "I took the liberty of analyzing the Chain Wink Sword, Minako," the blonde woman cradled the blade at her hip, "and there are a few…interesting benefits to the material it was created from."   
  
She hesitated and Buruma, happy to find another blue-haired genius, urged, "Continue, please, Ami-chan."  
  
She cleared her throat, sweeping her hand through her hair. "Metallia has possessed a destructible body- -immortal and not, uh, human, but destructible- -and if you sheath the blade in the heart," she opened a hologram into the room, showing where to strike, "she will be trapped in the body and she will die. Hopefully, Mars will merge back with Rei. As for this Cell creature…I haven't the foggiest as to how you'll kill him…her…it…uh, whatever-Cell-is…"  
  
"Whatever it is," Juunanagou mumbled behind his hand to a snickering Minako, "it's got the nastiest way of eating. Shloop. Right up its ass."  
  
Minako sat down sharply, cramming her fist into her mouth, eyes stinging with laughter-tears as she tried to hold back the semi-hysterical snickers threatening to choke her. It was to no avail and she rocked back, gasping and laughing uncontrollably. What's wrong with me?, the rational side of her mind thought.  
  
As if it was part of his programming, Juunanagou crouched beside her, pulling her into an embrace as her laughter turned to sobs.  
  
"I'm such a failure…," she whimpered, "I'm the leader. I let her down…she told me, with her mind when I took her back, that she didn't want to go! And if I wasn't so stubborn and stupid and idiotic, I would've listened!" To the android man's great surprise, she buried her face in his brown overcoat, soaking his undershirt with her many tears.   
  
The room was silent as the woman cried in the android's arms.  
  
"I've killed Rei…I've killed my sister…"  
  
(*)  
  
"OW!!"  
  
Rei bounced off the heavy metal wall, slamming hard into the heavy metal floor with her head. And, she smiled dizzily, there was a heavy metal ceiling, and three other heavy metal walls, and a heavy metal door, and a heavy metal lock on the heavy metal door…and we all live happily in a heavy metal world!, she thought proudly before Gohan leaned over her, worried, picking her up gently.  
  
"Are you okay, Rei-chan?" he questioned, feeling her forehead for bumps. She was mumbling something about heavy metal and he was beginning to worry about her sanity (or lack of it). He received no response and, lightly, he slapped her face.  
  
Immediately, she snapped back into her original personality (good or bad thing?). "I'll get you for that, Gohan!" After a brief moment, she gained a blank face and Gohan blinked. Rei was one strange ten-year old…  
  
"The lock!" she finally hissed excitedly, "when Metallia comes, we'll have the chance to break past her!" She chortled sinisterly, rubbing her palms together gleefully. "Ooooo, she's gonna regret making this woman ten! Never thought this size would be useful…"  
  
Gohan grinned. He was beginning to like this crazy- -but oddly cute- -girl (woman?), insane as it might sound to him.  
  
"You're crazy, you know that?" he teased her and she smirked.  
  
"That's what they say," she replied airily, then studied his face intently, a ghost of a deep emotion on her face…like the one his mother got whenever she talked about his father.  
  
That look scared him, for, all-powerful though he was, he remained a thirteen-year old boy and it scared him very, very, very badly when she gave him that look. It wasn't the one Juuhachigou was so fond of giving Roshi (he'd never known women could skewer a man's ego just by giving him THE LOOK ™, it'd never hurt his father when Mom gave it to him…)  
  
Rei opened her mouth, preparing to say something, when the sound of metal grating against metal erupted from the hinges of the door.  
  
A disheveled, sneering Metallia appeared in the doorway, with what looked like a rock in one hand. Lightly, she tossed it to the floor and it hit it hard. Whoa. Was that bread? Good God, it was!   
  
First in the suggestions box- -new chef. Heck, new yeast, too…the petrified chunk of 'bread' looked like it was a thousand years old. Not, he reminded himself, that it couldn't be a thousand years old in this place.  
  
//\\ready?//\\  
  
Oh. Rei was telepathic.  
  
//\\on three. one…two…three!//\\   
  
What powers of his he could harness in this underground heck were shoved into the speed department and the two children launched themselves around Metallia's booted legs, swooping into the dark corridors.  
  
Suddenly afraid to be separated from the-boy-who-wasn't-the-man-she-loved-but-the-same-person, Rei grasped Gohan's hand as they ran full out, blindly in the bewildering maze, stumbling up steps, twisting around corners, slipping through corridors.  
  
Finally, they ran into a wall.  
  
"Ow," Rei groaned, rolling away from Gohan, who was shaking the hit off like a prize bullfighter, "That hurt. Badly. Very badly. My head hurts."  
  
"I thought it was kinda refreshing," Gohan chirped cheerfully.  
  
Rei raised an eyebrow, decided not to ask, and pulled herself up onto her wobbling legs.  
  
"Shall we?" she asked, forcibly calm.  
  
"We shall." He paused and looked around for a brief moment. "Question…where are we?"  
  
Rei shrugged, then paused, herself. "Wait a minute. I couldn't use my telepathy until the dungeon door was opened…go Super Saiya-jin!"  
  
"How d'you kn-"  
  
"Just shut-up and try it!"  
  
He sighed, focusing all his reserves on the ultimate goal, the ultimate power levels that he had conquered.  
  
And his hair went gold.  
  
(*)  
  
Blasts of furious energy ripped from the fingers and skin of her borrowed body and Metallia screeched inhumanly for several minutes. Cell was off destroying a planet and its denizens, so she couldn't find any gratification with him.  
  
Didn't the boy, Gohan, have a dead father?  
  
An evil smile slowly spread across her face like a cancer.  
  
Stopping her angry steps, she threw her head back and lifted her arms, chanting in the ancient, rune language of the Mars kingdom.   
  
A man's body, clothed in an orange gi with a navy blue under-gi, formed before her and she captured his soul before it could enter the body.  
  
"Poor fool," she murmured evilly, cupping the glowing gold light that represented Gokuu, "Would you like to meet your son's soul and Selenity's soul? They'll be keeping you company until it becomes time for your final destruction."  
  
The soul-orb blinked out, banished to a distant dimension, small and mystical.  
  
The body of Gokuu opened his eyes and sat up, staring ahead with a zombie's emotional behavior.  
  
"Now, slave-warrior, there's a woman pregnant with the child that will be born without a soul…I desire her death so that the boy, Gohan, will know true loneliness…and when the time or need arises, execute Rei. I don't need a lovesick little girl and an equally lovesick little boy running amuck. Kill all those he loves…with the form of one he loves…" Here, she stopped to snigger coldly. "And his will shall break."  
  
Lifting up the hand of the body-that-wasn't-hers, she lifted the other hand and snapped, carelessly, the first hand's pinky and thumb off, letting blood gush along the white gloves, staining the silk as well as the marble floor of the dark palace. "Just as this body breaks." The severed flesh and veins in the stubs remaining pulsed, new flesh forming humps over them before new appendages burst into existence.  
  
"But he will not heal."  
  
Without his soul to guide him, Gokuu stood up stiffly, placing two fingers to his forehead and winking out.  
  
In the darkness, Metallia screamed and shook with mad laughter.  
  
  
  
  
  
Metallia scares me. 0o;; If this chapter seems weak, forgive me, okay? Remember, I warned ya! Minako's going to be experiencing some serious trauma by the end of "Ares Denetsu" (gingerly slated for a possible ten chapters) and I'll leave ya'll hanging, once more, at this chapter. (And "Ares Denetsu" will end with a cliffhanger of its own…which, of course, will force you to read "Shellshocked", my mainly Mirai no Trunks X Mizuno Ami/Super Sailor Mercury fic. Yes, I'm evil. Well, good-evil. Not perverse-evil, like Metallia and Cell. Wow. I didn't know so many people would freak. Wow.)  
  
By the way, anybody out there gonna write a Juunanagou X Minako fic? I dun' wanna be the only one supporting it with fanfiction!  
  
I'd order you all to write more, but then I'd be VERY hypocrital. (I've been brain-dead, which is my lame excuse for taking forever to get this chapter done and sent out.)  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
Awwww! Ryan's asleep on the aLiEn tiGEr's back! How cute! Now, go to bed, Chibi-Kurt, Chibi-Spyke!   
  
[PS~ Thanks for your support! It means a lot to me! Keep supportin' whatcha want! And have a great week!}  
  
[PSS~ I'll plug shamelessly here. Review. I like reviews.]  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	3. With All the Shadows of a Doubt

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
With All the Shadows of a Doubt  
  
  
Minako had fled to the sanctuary of the beach, leaving the Kame House in a tizzy (and Roshi suffering from a severe headache due to Trunks' pummeling him for trying to sneak a peek up Ami's skirt). Juunanagou followed her after a moment, leaving the Senshi and Chikyuu Fighters to design an effective plan.  
  
At first, it seemed simple enough. But gradually, warrior after warrior backed off confused. First Tenshinhann, Chou-zu, and Lunch, followed by pretty much everyone aside from Trunks, Ami, and Buruma, who were conversing fluently in the technical language their friends were unfortunately _not_ fluent in.  
  
Vejiita found himself holding a gurgling infant Trunks and he resigned himself to his fate.  
  
Five minutes after Juunanagou left, he returned with Minako, whose ears were unhealthily red (as was her face and neck). He smiled quickly at his twin sister, who gave the slightly limping Senshi and the cocky half-man a suspicious look.  
  
"So, uh, what's the plan?" Minako stuttered, looking dazed, embarrassed, and…happy? What a mix of emotions!  
  
"We could do the teleport, but instead of all the Senshi, we'd need the help of a few of you…Chikyuu…warriors," Ami responded immediately, clicking her computer shut and snapping her left turquoise earring once, sending the visor into sub-space storage.   
  
Buruma nodded, adding, "The power levels required to teleport all of us are astronomical and not even the power of various Super Saiya-jins could assist us. So…it comes down to this. Trunks, the Senshi, Juunanagou, and Yamucha will go."  
  
Vejiita looked upset by his having to stay behind. "What is the meaning of th-"  
  
"Otousan," Trunks interrupted wearily, "shut up. Someone has to stay back and sense for incoming auras and help protect Chichi-san, Juuhachigou-san, and okaasan. We'll need to send the rest of you to various parts of the globe to serve as back-up guardians in case we fail."  
  
"Why is Yamucha going?" Makoto barged into the conversation, obviously worried about the not-very-strong human male.  
  
"If okaasan wasn't lying," Trunks flashed a grin at Makoto, though he was watching an oblivious Ami, "then he used to be a desert bandit. I should hope he knows a few stealth maneuvers."  
  
"Mark my words," Yamucha muttered under his breath, "I'm gonna end up being cannon fodder. Always have, always will."  
  
'Not if I can help it,' Makoto thought sharply.  
  
A soft shing sound announced the unsheathing of the Chain Wink Sword.  
  
"I take responsibility," Minako spoke up grimly, still not meeting Juunanagou's eyes, "for all that has happened and all that may happen. I let Rei-chan down and I swear I won't let anyone else down." She smiled cheerily, like the Minako of old. "And we'll save the universe while we're at it!"  
  
Ginzishou, who had been silent, cooed softly, curling into a ball on Minako's golden head. "I will come with you, Venus-hime."  
  
Minako smiled coldly.   
  
(*)  
  
No matter what anyone said, Rei thought he made one heckuva damn good flashlight.  
  
Rei grinned, following her glowing Super Saiya-jin companion (who was disgruntled at her occasional 'light-bulb' cracks).   
  
She turned around, midback-length raven hair swirling idly in a small fan shape, her large violet eyes drinking in the shadows behind them. Something moved in them.  
  
"Uh, Gohan-kun," she reached behind her, tugging frantically at the collar of his blue gi, "I think we have company."  
  
He stopped walking, turning slightly, stiff golden hair and green eyes an odd match for her darker, exotic looks (even as a ten-year old). "What is it, Rei-chan?"  
  
She cleared her throat, backing up a little, pushing him along slowly. "I don't know, but I don't think its friendly."  
  
The shadows exploded.  
  
(*)  
  
"Cripes, it's been _ages_ since we've done this last," Super Sailor Jupiter grumbled, reaching out and grabbing Yamucha's hand and Super Sailor Mercury's hand. The group of six (eight, if they counted Puar and Ginzishou) were arranged in a circle, hands clasped tightly and eyes closed resignedly.  
  
Minako squeezed Juunanagou's hand and she was disappointed to get no response from him.  
  
"Begin," Ginzishou ordered.  
  
"Venus Crystal Power, Make Up!"  
  
"Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up!"  
  
"Mercury Crystal Power, Make Up!"   
  
Yamucha focused his energies on powering up; even the smallest helpful nudge of power would be welcome.   
  
Trunks went Super Saiya-jin easily, almost relaxed as he shifted stages.  
  
Juunanagou felt widely useless, having no ki whatsoever to power up with.  
  
Ginzishou flung one of her wings over Puar, pulling both of them close against Minako's neck.  
  
A brilliant flash of rainbow light and a few major sunspots later, they were gone.  
  
(*)  
  
|\|Are you alright?|/|  
  
Son Gokuu would have blinked if he could, but he had no body, so he didn't. He did realize quickly, however, that he could _think_ back to the voice.   
  
^where am I?^  
  
He couldn't see anything or feel anything or smell anything…  
  
Another voice rang out.  
  
::{I'm not sure, Gokuu-san, but Goten-kun and I apologize for the lack of…scenery…in your 'eyes.'}::  
  
^Goten?^ Gokuu wondered. He and Chichi had been discussing names they would give to any future children…if they had a girl, she would be "Himiko" and if it was a boy, "Goten" would be his name. ^are you…what the…holy shit! What the hell's going on?!^  
  
The second voice, the feminine one, sighed and strove to answer his question to the best of her abilities. ::{the night before you left for the Cell Games, Chichi-san was impregnated with Goten. Metallia has stolen Goten-kun's soul from his unborn body and if he is not returned to his physical body before she gives birth, he will never live in human terms. Myself, my body has been frozen in a dark crystal, my soul placed here. I know you think you can't see anything…but try your hardest. We have bodies here, but you must focus…think of life…}::  
  
Gokuu emptied his mind of all the confusion and followed the female's instructions.  
  
He opened his eyes and felt sand beneath his surrogate feet, felt a sea breeze tousle his messy black hair.  
  
Another man who could have passed as his identical twin stood in front of him, grinning widely, his hand clasping that of a slim, small woman with blonde hair threaded with silver, her large blue eyes smiling at him.  
  
"Ohayo, otousan," the man grinned mischievously, "Welcome to faux-hell…"  
  
(*)  
  
They were gone.  
  
Chichi mumbled an apology and made her escape to the kitchen, leaving a worried group behind her.  
  
"I hope Chichi will be alright," Kuririn spoke softly and Juuhachigou agreed privately, waging her own internal war. She wanted to be there, fighting alongside her brother and the 'young' woman she was beginning to see as a sister, battling to protect this planet she had grown to love.  
  
The child, their unborn musume, kicked ill-temperedly in her womb and Juuhachigou grimaced momentarily, keeping the flinching motion hidden from all eyes. Their child certainly wasn't lacking in the fighting side of the gene pool.  
  
(*)  
  
Chichi gripped the kitchen sink, her knuckles turning white from the extreme pressure she was applying, dark eyes stinging. She had known she was with child, but a son…she had lost the two other boys in her life, her husband and now her first son…  
  
"Gokuu-saa," she whimpered, leaning forward, her forehead pressed against the cold glass, "I miss you so much…"   
  
A tear slid from her eye, slipping along the contours of her pale cheek and she pulled away from the window, covering her face with her hands as the tears broke through her emotional dam, spilling uncontrollably between her slender, shaking fingers. "Oh, Gokuu-saa…"  
  
Something broke behind her and she whirled around, silky black hair twirling from where it spurted from her bun.  
  
Her breathing stopped and she blinked, unbelieving.   
  
Gokuu was standing right in front of her, staring blankly at her.  
  
"G-Gokuu-saa…?" she whispered, taking a tentative step toward him, holding up one hand as she took a few more hesitant steps. She touched his face, her fingertips grazing his cheeks, his nose, his lips, his innocent eyelashes, the boyish curve to his jaw.  
  
And then his hand shot up, grasping her wrist, squeezing it like a clamp.  
  
She gasped in pain and betrayal, staring up at him as he forced her down to her knees, his eyes cold and hard. The bones in her wrist creaked and then snapped sharply, loudly.  
  
"W-what are you doing, Gokuu-saa?"   
  
He put even more pressure, hard and steely, on her broken wrist, causing tension to string itself along her arm's bones and muscles.  
  
Chichi saw his eyes, lifeless and soulless, and she knew this wasn't the man she loved.  
  
But still she wept.  
  
  
  
  
  
NOOOO!! Poor Chichi!! Gomennasaigomennasaigomennasai!!! I AM cruel and mean! *sniffles* But don't worry, my fellow Gokuu/Chichi fans, everything turns out hunky-dory, 'cause I'm an optimist and good always triumphs!  
  
I know I didn't have much Rei/Gohan in this, but, like I said in "AnY", I need filler chapters, and this is one.  
  
Maybe you all will strike it lucky and get another chapter today! Who knows…*winks*  
  
In the Goten/Usagi/Gokuu parts, |\|…|/| represents Goten's telepathy, ::{…}:: represents Usagi's telepathy, and ^…^ represents Gokuu's telepathy. I hope nobody's confused!  
  
Why, yes, there's gonna be some Goten/Usagi content in a later arc.   
  
And, yes, I *am* supportive of Gokuu x Chichi. I love that couple! They're so sweet together! (And, no, Chichi is not a whining mother. Dangit, her husband's faced death and died multiple times, her son [as a two-year old, no less] has faced death by her unknown brother-in-law/Frieza/Cell/assorted-other-creatures, and she isn't a strong enough fighter to battle alongside them against these bad guys! I'd be freaking out, too!)  
  
As for Juuhachigou's emotions…I personally have never bought the 'ice princess' stereotype most of us Americans portray her as. I've always thought that she buried her emotions, but I've also thought that she shows more emotions throughout the series BECAUSE OF KURIRIN. Love has the ability to knock some sense into you, y'know, and by giving in to at least one of her emotions, the rest become easier to be shown. After writing "Epilogue | Blonde Wisdom" of "AnY", I started thinking of Juuhachigou and Minako being close friends, almost sisters. *grins widely* Which leads to some interesting implications between Minako and Juunanagou…  
  
Speaking of whom, anyone want to know what happened outside to make Minako blush wildly and have Juunanagou act so full of himself (not that he doesn't already do that)? Perhaps, if enough people ask, I'll write a side story…heheh…  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
[PS~ Thank-you all for reviewing! It means so much to me to know that a few people are still reading my fanfiction! If you're reading, could you take the few seconds to write me a little review? It doesn't have to be long; heck, it could be one or two words, just as long as you let me know you're out there!]  
  
[PSS~ I just watched Lion King in Spanish I on Friday. *falls silent for a moment* It was in the Spanish language. *falls silent once more* IT'S THE SADDEST DISNEY MOVIE _EVER_!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! I saw it in theatres and I sobbed when Scar died. There's so much DEATH in that movie. *pauses* It's probably the only Disney movie where a good guy dies and stays dead. *sob* Mufasa…]  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	4. Return to the Ground

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Return to the Ground  
  
  
It was a corpse.  
  
It was a slimy, rotting, putrid corpse.  
  
And it was wielding a VERY dangerous sword.  
  
Rei fumbled along the wall of stone she was pressed against, trying to feel for one of the heavy torch-holders embedded in the wall.   
  
Gohan, glowing bright gold with the enormous energy of a Super Saiya-jin, thrust his hands out in front of him, fingers crooked in a certain way.  
  
Rei had seen this move before, from Mirai no Gohan, and, though she was struck by an intense wave of longing and nostalgia, she dove down a handy stairwell, crumpling at the foot of the five steps to cover her head.  
  
"KAME…"  
  
She closed her eyes tightly and curled up into a neat ball, plugging her ears with her pinkies as she kept her hands wrapped around the back of her skull and neck.  
  
"HAME…"  
  
She almost felt sorry for the poor corpse…  
  
"HA!!"  
  
A smell not unlike an overripe fruit bursting burned into the air and she heard a distinctive splattering noise, indicating the creature had been executed.  
  
"Aw, shitdamn," she heard Gohan mutter and she slowly stood up, tiptoeing up the steps to see him shake his bare arms; slime, tendons, muscles, and half-decayed organs slipped off the muscles in his arm and he looked somewhat sickened. "This is, hands-down, the grossest thing that has EVER happened to me."  
  
Rei grinned. "_I_ ducked," she told him loftily and he carefully scooped a piece of wet, pliable heart off his cheek, casually flicking it onto her nose. With a frown, she scraped it off; to his disappointment, she was barely fazed. Instead, she glanced at him and stuck her tongue out, blowing him a raspberry.  
  
He responded with the like.  
  
And, joy of joys, another corpse came from the shadows.  
  
And another.  
  
And another.  
  
And another.  
  
And another…  
  
(*)  
  
"GET OOOOFF MEEEEE!!!!" Super Sailor Venus shrieked, having been caught at the bottom of the graceless pile of groaning people. However, her face being squished against a nasty smelling floor, it came out garbled, strangled, and basically sounding like it had been run through a verbal blender.  
  
Super Sailor Jupiter, being on top of the pile, flipped off, landing on her feet. Sighing, she grabbed Yamucha's sleeveless gi and Puar's tail, hauling the two off with immense strength.   
  
Trunks slid off, gently picking Mercury up by her waist and setting her down carefully on her feet.  
  
Ginzishou hovered above the lot, watching Venus shove Juunanagou off of her with a bright red face.  
  
"Well," Venus said after a moment, "we're here."  
  
(*)  
  
"KAMEHAMEHA!!"  
  
"Damn it, why don't you stay _down_?!"  
  
Gohan grinned in satisfaction as more of the veritable army of corpses were wiped away, absently shaking his intestine-covered hand to get said intestines off it. Rei was currently beating the…slime…out of a corpse with a torch-holder she could barely lift with her small hands.  
  
Then something very strange happened.  
  
All of the corpses, whether they were smudges on the walls, ceiling, and floor or not, were literally absorbed into whatever stone surface they could reach.  
  
Sickly fascinated, the two backed up until their backs were touching; Gohan had his hand held out before him, cupped and ready to deal out another Kamehameha or a Masenko, whichever he felt necessary; Rei crouched on one leg, holding the makeshift weapon in her hands like a baseball bat, cocked over one shoulder.  
  
"Okay…what the heck's going on?" Rei asked slowly, jerking her left leg up as a piece of liver she had been standing on slipped between the cracks of the stone beneath her feet.  
  
"I don't know, exactly, Rei-chan," Gohan swallowed, "but it's been my experience that whenever the bad guys retreat, something even worse is coming."   
  
"Peachy. My life sucks."  
  
"Join the club."  
  
There were no sounds aside from the ragged breathing of Rei and no lights aside from the soft sheen of Gohan. It was too still.  
  
" 'The calm before the storm,' " Rei quipped and Gohan agreed, reaching out to grab her wet hand with his wet hand, interlocking their fingers to comfort the both of them.  
  
She glanced back at him, startled, seeing his profile, lips hard and taut, eyes narrowed, eyebrows lowered. Out of the corner of his green eyes, he saw her staring at him, mouth pursed in a little 'o' of surprise. He smiled, a quick upward twitch of his lips.  
  
"It'll be fine, Rei-chan," he assured her gently, as much to himself as to her.  
  
She smiled back at him, leaning against him as they both sighed a collective moan, sliding to the ground in a sitting position, backs to each other. "Thank-you, Gohan-kun," she whispered.  
  
He blushed a little, shyly ducking his head even though she couldn't see his face.  
  
"Do you have a plan?" she asked after a moment and he murmured in reply: "I can't do anything about that."   
  
Rei shivered a little, wanting more than anything to be Super Sailor Mars again.  
  
He felt her shiver, the shuddering motion brought about by the intense chill vibrating into his own body. That he _could_ do something about. He extended his aura so that it encircled her as well, warming up the area distinctively.  
  
She smiled again, gratefully, relaxing back against him.  
  
(*)  
  
A whimper pushed its way between Chichi's lips and she winced, feeling the corded tension in her arm mounting, threatening to snap her lower arm in half.  
  
The shell of Gokuu showed no emotion on his handsome face; no helpless sorrow, no sadistic glee, nothing at all flittered across his face to indicate Gokuu was feeling anything.  
  
But, then again, he wasn't Gokuu.  
  
"Let…me go…whoever you are," she gritted, tears stinging her eyes. The child inside of her womb was deathly still, unmoving and, for the most terrifying of moments, she thought he had died. With the small amount of ki existing in her body, she desperately 'felt' the child and she was relieved briefly to feel a life force in him, though something was missing…almost like a soul.  
  
That was it, she realized as 'Gokuu' lifted his other hand, the unused one, wrapping it tightly around her neck, preparing to squeeze it tightly. Someone had stolen Gokuu's soul…  
  
The kitchen door slammed open, snapping off the hinges as Vejiita, Tenshinhann, Kuririn, and Roshi burst into the small kitchen; Chichi could distantly hear Lunch, Chou-zu, and Juuhachigou trying to hush a sobbing infant Trunks.  
  
"It…he's not…," Chichi gagged, crimson blood dripping from her wrist where the pearly white bone had broken her skin; the liquid also dripped silently from the corner of her lip. She gasped sharply, feeling the pretend Gokuu tighten his grip on her neck.  
  
And then her world went dark.  
  
(*)  
  
Gokuu grasped the temples of his new body's head, gasping out in blinding pain. Chichi was hurting, she was bleeding…  
  
Goten fell on his knees beside his not-yet-father, who had dropped to all fours, eyes wide and panicked.  
  
Selenity brought her hands up to her mouth, closing her eyes and concentrating. Faintly, she felt the pain that was striking Gokuu numb, though it felt like nothing more than a pinprick to her senses. "You've bonded with Chichi," she said after a moment, "and someone's trying to kill her…oh, God. That's what Metallia's up to." Selenity looked at Goten, her face shocked and drawn. "She resurrected Gokuu and placed his soul here…because she's going to use his body…to kill…Chichi and you…she," the blonde woman swallowed thickly, "wants to fight Gohan, and she hopes by killing all those dear to him using a loved one will push him over the edge. She wants to fight someone insane, like her."  
  
"What about Cell?" Goten inquired, casting worried looks at his shaking father, "What does she want with him?"  
  
Selenity made a sour face. "Trust me, you don't want to know what the first one is."  
  
Goten paled and got a sickened look on his features.  
  
"However," Selenity continued, "she hopes that by using the…uh, first thing, she can produce a race of super-powerful beings of evil and destruction…if she and Cell reproduce, she can control the universe with another being of pure evil, with their spawn dominating planets." Selenity shuddered. "I hate delving into that bitch's mind."  
  
"You cussed," Goten said admiringly and she smirked.  
  
"I'm older than old, kid, I know enough bad words to make a grunge artist swoon."  
  
"Don't call me kid!"  
  
The two stopped arguing swiftly, seeing Gokuu let his hands fall limply to the grass, palms upturned.  
  
The dirt turned brown in one small, round spot where a tear slid down his face.  
  
"Chichi-chan…"  
  
(*)  
  
"Poor fools…"  
  
"Hmmm? Oh, are you still bothering about that idiotic little Saiya-jin boy? Koibito, I thought we had more important things to do than think about those two little prisoners…"  
  
"Not now, Metallia."  
  
Metallia pouted and turned around, flouncing the raven hair of her stolen body as Cell studied a hologram hovering before him.  
  
"You said you had found a way to bring out the true hate in Gohan," the sinister android spoke.  
  
Metallia smiled evilly. "That I did, love. Poor boy…Mommy and widdle bwuver will be dead, dead, dead as doornails, killed by Daddy!" She grinned widely, eyes glinting insanely. "Dead, dead, dead, dead!" she sang, laughing madly.  
  
Cell smiled, malicious and malignant. "Perfect."  
  
"Just like you," Metallia purred.  
  
The shadows pulsed.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Ick. Eww. Why do I write scenes like that? At least I didn't get TOO gross with it, right, folks? Whew.  
  
'Member, review!  
  
How d'you like it? And as soon as I finish "Ares Denetsu", I'm gonna put up an acknowledgements section where I thank everyone who reviewed!   
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
90%DevilChild calls me P-chan.  
I'm called Palla by others, or P. Mongoose Palla, or Mongoose Palla.  
…  
But my friends call me insane!  
  
[PS~ I don't know how many times I've said this, but…review! Knowing people care about this helps my self-esteem, which, in turn, helps me write faster! Review! Review!]  
  
[PSS~ And if you already review, thanks so much! This story's for you!]  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	5. Dark Forces

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Dark Forces  
  
  
Rei and Gohan turned their heads around uneasily, goosebumps raising the hairs on their arms. The corpses (and the pieces of them) had been completely absorbed by the walls, sucked into the cracks.  
  
The ground leaped right under their feet.  
  
"Um, Gohan-kun," Rei squeaked nervously, "is that supposed to happen?"  
  
He slowly craned his neck to the side, to see what could only be described as RUN FAR, FAR AWAY.  
  
"Rei-chan," Gohan began calmly, remembering to blink, "run like hell."  
  
She cast a glance at the monster, froze, eyes widened, and she bolted, Gohan right behind her.  
  
They stumbled down the steps and shot down a branch at an intersecting corridor, feeling the hot, stingy breath of the creature melting the hairs on the backs of their neck.  
  
Of course, the two children found themselves standing on a ledge high above what looked like a tranquil lake.  
  
"Jump!"  
  
Screaming, Rei plummeted into the depths of the black water, feeling sludge fill her ears, her nose, and her mouth, the thick goo engulfing her. Her eyes stung, the water was like acid, and she could feel the glow of Gohan above her…or was it below her? Through the goop filling her mouth, she felt something wriggle into her throat, something alive.   
  
Gohan, disoriented, felt around for the surface, using what little control he had over his now raging power, brushing Rei's panicked psyche by accident. He exploded out of the slimy acid-water, sweeping his head from side to side to shake out the glistening droplets of darkness before he took a deep breath and homed in on Rei's weakening signal, diving back into the sinister lake.  
  
For a trembling, silent moment, the lake was completely still, so very eerily quiet.  
  
And then the surface burst, a veritable hurricane of black sludge thundering up and out of the basin, swooping into the vast corridors, drowning the lurking creature.  
  
Panting, chest heaving, Gohan cradled Rei's limp body to his, his eyes unfocused. With a brisk shake of his head, he set her down carefully on the now-dry lakebed, grasping the side of her lips to purse them. Placing his free hand on her chest, he cleared his mind, tried to think of a way to control his power long enough to revive her. Inhaling slowly and deeply, he sent a wave of power through his palm into her chest cavity, where her heart lay still.  
  
No response.  
  
Trying to ignore the odd fluttering feeling in his chest and stomach, he bent over her, placing his lips on hers and blowing into her mouth, sending another wave into her body.  
  
Again, there was no response.   
  
"Damn it, Rei-chan, wake up," he pleaded softly, placing his lips to hers again, repeating the process another time.  
  
Rei coughed and something climbed into his mouth.  
  
Reflexively, he turned his head to the side and spat it out.  
  
It was like a gecko, was his first impression. A tiny lizard, but almost like a dinosaur with the frill surrounding its neck. It was actually cute…  
  
And then it opened its mouth.  
  
Tiny as it was, Gohan could make out hundreds of jagged teeth arranged in neat, orderly rows; each sharp, glinting tooth was finely honed to an edge and it radiated evil, thick, malignant, and revolting.  
  
Before the creature could move, he slammed his hand down on it, crushing it.  
  
Green blood stuck to his hand and, wrinkling his nose in disgust, he wiped it on the pants of gi, turning back to Rei.  
  
Trickles of blood tinted the corners of her mouth, bright red even in the still darkness.  
  
"Gohan-kun," she asked very distinctly and carefully, "where's the lake?"  
  
He grinned abashedly and made a wide, sweeping motion indicating that he had, quite literally, blown the lake up.  
  
(*)  
  
Vejiita held 'Gokuu' down, Tenshinhann and Kuririn pinning the Saiya-jin's legs to the floor.  
  
Oddly, he didn't struggle.  
  
Roshi, abandoning his normal pervert style, was kneeling beside an unconscious Chichi, Chou-zu was worriedly studying the pregnant woman's shattered wrist, the ragged edges of the bone peeking out from the skin.  
  
The three holding Gokuu down looked at each other cautiously and slowly eased away from 'Gokuu' at the same time.  
  
He pulled himself to his feet mechanically, eyes blank, face emotionless, and started walking towards Chichi as if he were nothing more than a mere drone, a child's toy soldier.  
  
Immediately, he was slammed back into the ground, held there carefully.  
  
"This is not good," Kuririn said quietly as the three women- -Buruma, Lunch, and Juuhachigou- -came running into the kitchen, infant Trunks safely tucked in his mother's arms.  
  
"Gokuu-kun!" Lunch gasped and Buruma, palm-sized computer held out in one hand, shook her head 'no.'  
  
"That's not Son-kun. I can't find a heartbeat or anything signaling he's alive. It's almost as if his soul was taken out of his…"   
  
Buruma trailed off.   
  
"Body," Juuhachigou finished.  
  
Vejiita rolled his coal black eyes and slammed his hand down on the back of Gokuu's neck. Showing no signs of pain, the shell closed its eyes and crumpled.  
  
An insistent beeping rang out from Buruma's computer and she clicked an icon on the screen with her fingertip; Super Sailor Mercury's and Mirai no Trunks' faces were shown instantly, encompassing the entire viewscreen. "Hold up, minna-san," she announced, fishing through the pockets of her loose khakis for a half-headphone; fitting the headband over her head, the receiver part was snugly placed in her ear, the microphone hovering above her upper lip so as to keep static from interfering with the quality of the transmission. "I've got Mercury and Trunks up on communications."  
  
//Hello, okaasan!// Trunks smiled, lavender hair pulled back in a taut ponytail, light blue eyes still serious despite the bright smile he gave her.  
  
"Hello, Trunks-kun," Buruma laughed, absently adjusting her headset.  
  
//Buruma-san, I think I might have found a problem.// Mercury speaking. //We- -we being the Senshi and Z Senshi- -have found…well, the body of the princess I and my fellow Sailor Senshi are honor bound to protect. She appears to have no soul…or life force in her.// Mercury hesitated, brushing a strand of glittering dew-coated blue hair out of her eyes. //We haven't found Gohan or Rei yet, gomen nasai. Is Chichi taking the news fairly well?//  
  
"Weee~eeell…," Buruma drew out lengthily, "a few little things've been happening around here. _Unexpected_ things you might say…"   
  
(*)  
  
"Oh, _SHIT_!!" Venus ducked and rolled to her left side, growling in frustration at the annoying little fact that the Chain Wink Sword was caught in it sheath as the corpse of what looked like Goliath or something reached toward her, putrescent flesh hanging off his bony fingers.  
  
Juunanagou calmly walked up behind the corpse and thrust his open hand through its chest, tearing straight through the chest cavity, effectively decapitating it right below its shoulders.  
  
He didn't even bother to glance at the limp body as it fell, in two places, to the floor, his brown overcoat flung on his shoulder, free hand in his jeans' pocket.   
  
"Here, it's cold," he told her casually, flipping the cloth at her. Deftly, she caught it and looked back up at him.  
  
She hadn't realized he had changed clothing before they left; he had on a white sweatshirt with a black t-shirt (a RR logo decorating the left breast) and jeans (a rip over one knee); dark sneakers, white socks, and an orange bandanna around his neck completed the strange ensemble.  
  
He noticed her curious look and defended, "I used to wear this all the time."  
  
Venus shrugged and pulled the overcoat on over her thin fuku, unthreading the red ribbon woven into her hair so as to pull her golden locks back from her face.  
  
"Let me," he offered and, shyly, she let go of her loose hair, letting him thread his pale fingers into her soft hair, his hands deftly braiding her locks into a tightly woven braid. "You should stop using this shampoo. It smells disgusting."  
  
"It's lilac!" she retorted, wndering on how he had to criticize her about her _shampoo_ (of all things) while at the same time thinking, 'dang! He must have one heckuva good sense of smell!'   
  
"I prefer honeysuckle," he snapped right back. He was quiet for a moment before, with a sheepish grin, he shook his head and laughed, a low sound mingling pleasantly with the gentle chime of his hoop earrings hitting metal implants beneath the skin by his earlobes. "We are truly pathetic," Juunanagou grinned, "if we argue about a trifle like shampoo scents."  
  
"I agree," Venus chuckled as he continued to plait her hair, "We really should think on more important things. Like rescuing our friends."  
  
"Or possibly the corpse right behind me?" he suggested, then kicked one foot up sharply behind him in an impossible roundhouse kick, smashing the bloody skull right off the corpse, causing it to fall emptily to the floor. "Nope, never mind, got rid of that pest."  
  
How could he be so merciless? But then again, she reasoned, they _were_ destroying the already-technically-dead, so…  
  
"I apologize," he whispered lowly, in her ear, his warm breath tickling the nape of her neck, "if I seem uncouth."  
  
Trying to ignore the urge to grab him and do unmentionable things- -it just wasn't decent to think naughty thoughts, much less while on a rescue mission- -that would have Ginzishou scolding her for a month, Venus simply settled for turning beet red.  
  
Juunanagou smirked and snapped her long braid. "I'm evil, you know," he laughed softly, "but it's in my best interest to act like a good guy at this point."  
  
"You are a very confusing man," Venus muttered, "Juunanagou."  
  
He mock-bowed. "You are far too kind, Minako. I've killed for less than that."  
  
"Oh, yes," she nodded sagely, turning to look up the few inches separating their heights, "I've heard about you from your sister. Kicked the head off your creator, did you? Crushed the decapitated head like an overripe melon, correct? Actually, I think you're kind of attractive when you act all sinister and bad guy-like." She fluttered her eyelashes at him, patted his cheek with her glove, and swept off, thick braid bouncing off her back.  
  
He stood there stupidly for a moment, trying to figure out what the heck had just happened.  
  
Well, he decided after a moment's careful reflection, even if he couldn't figure out why she did the craziest things to him, at least he could count on the basic idea that he had the same twisted effect on her.  
  
Yes, he nodded affirmatively to himself. That was a good thing.  
  
Wait a second.  
  
She thought he was attractive when he was being arrogant and immature?  
  
"Hey, Minako! Hold your gosh damn horses!"  
  
(*)  
  
"Oh, look. It's a big cavern. How…useful."  
  
Gohan stuck his tongue out at a sarcastic Rei and she adopted an innocent expression, blinking languidly beneath her long black eyelashes.  
  
It made him very uncomfortable.  
  
The air was quiet again and he thought, with sinking dread, he heard a chuckle he had thought he'd destroyed completely.  
  
"Gohan…," Rei suddenly said, her voice high and slightly frightened, "is it a bad thing when a very tall, very ugly, green-and-black-spotted man with metal for skin appears in front of you?"  
  
"H-hai…"  
  
"Ah. We're screwed."  
  
(*)  
  
The Gokuu drone had failed. Metallia frowned and turned to Cell, who looked infuriatingly calm about the entire thing. Damn him.  
  
"I'm sure you find this _highly_ amusing," she snapped irritably, glowering at the taller android.  
  
He shrugged, that annoying half-smirk, oozing with smugness, popping onto his face. "Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way, I get to fight the brat Gohan."  
  
Metallia sighed and snapped her fingers, dispelling the holograms. She crossed 'her' arms over her chest, tapping her booted foot thoughtfully. "I suppose," she said after a while, "I can create a false image to make Gohan think his mother and father are dead, killed by his father's own hands."  
  
"Very well," Cell nodded. "I shall dispatch of this annoying little half-breed mosquito while you…"  
  
"Get rid of Rei?" Metallia cackled. Her dark smile widened insanely. "Yes, but I shan't kill her outright, no, the little bitch should suffer like I suffered throughout that accursed Selenity's assault. I'll let her die right before Gohan's eyes and," her smile grew malicious and curved malevolently, "then he shall surrender to insanity…"  
  
"And I shall fight pure, undiluted, unrestrained power," Cell sneered. Laughing darkly to himself, he vanished into the walls, moving unconsciously to the enormous cavern the two youths found themselves in.   
  
Metallia giggled viciously to herself. "Now to go Senshi hunting…"  
  
With one last snigger, she, too, melted into the wall, following the ki trails of the rescue party.  
  
(*)  
  
Goten and Selenity knelt beside Gokuu, trying to comfort him.  
  
The burning, uncontrolled pain blazing in his skull faded quietly, leaving him and his soul, exhausted, fell prostrate on the ground, cheek pressed hard against the cool green grass of the little oasis of their dimension.  
  
"Chichi-chan," he whispered once, falling into deep slumber.  
  
  
  
  
  
Ahhhh!! Another chapter done! See, I was going to write this _last_ night, April 28, 2001, but I was given a choice by my mom - I could have one of my best friends over for a sleep-over or I could stay up until one in the morning writing and posting (which means I would have probably finished "Ares Denetsu") this. I chose my friend. Soooo…you'll have to wait for tomorrow for more fanfiction!  
  
Oh, in regards to Minimerc's thought that Gokuu was possessed, he isn't. His soul was taken from his body and it is my personal belief that if the body has no soul, it's nothing but a drone. Which is why he tried to kill Chichi- -it wasn't really Gokuu, it was the body of Gokuu. But it got you to review! Cool!   
  
In the previous chapter and this one, I had references to Gokuu feeling Chichi's pain. That's my tribute to the bond cliché a lot of DBZ writers like to sue. (As the authoress of this gorgeous Juunanagou x Pan fic [can't remember the title of it] put it, a Saiya-jin bond is like "love to the bajillionth power.") So, I built on the idea by having Gokuu's soul being able to feel Chichi's soul's pain. It might be cliché, but, heck, I like it…  
  
Next chapter'll have Yamucha get beat up!…WHA-?! No! I like Yamucha!!  
  
The side stories are in progress and I think I'll have possibly two for "Ares Denetsu", one covering the events in the previous chapter that involved Juunanagou and Minako, the other building on the events occurring between Yamucha and Jupiter in the next installment.  
  
So, ja mata, ya crazy people!  
  
And you not so crazy people, too.  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
[PS~ How can I say this lightly? REVIEW.]  
  
[PSS~ I love "Disney's Tarzan"!!!!! I taped it off ABC and I'm gonna watch it over and over and over…then I'll write a songfic using S Club 7's "Never Had A Dream Come True" song. Disney rules, and you know it! WATCH "DISNEY'S TARZAN". I saw it in theaters and I haven't seen it after that until today, April 29, 2001! WOO-HOO!! And "Team Bonet's Tarzan Shrine" is positively gorgeous, even though it hasn't been updated since January of 2000.]  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	6. Side Story I | An Innocent Talk

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Set During: With All the Shadows of a Doubt  
  
Side Story I | An Innocent Talk  
  
*****  
  
She gripped the Chain Wink Sword tightly in her hands, growing angrier and angrier as the poisonous blade refused to mar the perfect skin of her hands. With a dark scream, she tossed the sword away from her, crossly folding her arms over her jacket-covered breasts. Minako could hear the others inside, talking and discussing; she could hear Juuhachigou and Kuririn laughing together. She was envious; she admitted that. She was envious that even when darkness threatened the universe, the two had their love for each other. They never seemed to fight or be angry at each other…so happily in love. Vejiita and Buruma, however, seemed to be constantly arguing or harping at each other. But then again, the alien prince and the super genius stole glances at each other, their out-of-wedlock son beautiful and healthy.  
  
Minako sighed, feeling even lonelier.  
  
Rei had loved the other Gohan; the one Minako had downright refused to drag back in time. And she had torn apart their love as well as destroying most of Rei's chances at surviving.  
  
Deciding to be selfish for an indulging moment, the pretty blonde woman leaned back in the slippery sand of the beach, supporting herself on her elbows, legs sprawled before her and crossed at her ankles.  
  
What would it be like, she wondered sadly, to be in love, to carry the child you and the man you love made? She'd always thought her crush-for-the-day would be the smiling groom…but that was before Chaos, before the deep sleep, before Juunanagou and his arrogance and egotism and darkly seductive looks and personality, tugging her to him without his meaning to drive her insane…  
  
"The stars seem so near, don't they, when you sit on this beach."  
  
Minako hummed an absent response, distantly hearing the android that had been the subject of her thoughts crouch down beside her, his bare heels digging into the miniscule dunes littering the shoreline. From the corner of her eye, she watched him, feeling both at peace and excited wildly. Moonlight shimmered off his skin, a soft sea breeze blowing strands of his jet-black hair into his face. He sighed briefly, tossing his head once to knock the hair behind his head, where they blew without interfering with his eyesight. If anything, Minako didn't want him to turn and look at her with those intense, penetrating ice-blue eyes of his; the ones that seemed to read her mind in an instant.  
  
"You shouldn't blame yourself," he told her quietly, voice subdued, hands resting on his bent legs, dangling between his knees. "You mustn't feel as if you are to blame."  
  
She laughed, short and bitter, brought back down to harsh, cold, cruel reality. "You're a fine one to talk about feelings," she snipped spitefully.  
  
Juunanagou whirled on her, perfect teeth bared as he grabbed her shoulders and pinned her to the sand, his face contorted in undiluted animalistic rage. "Don't you ever try to tell me about my feelings," he snarled, voice clipped and kept quiet for the benefit of the others in the Kame House.  
  
"And don't you ever patronize me!" she snapped right back, trying to get out from under his lean body, refusing to look into his eyes.  
  
"Touché," he sneered, keeping his firm grip on her shoulders, holding her to the sand.  
  
"What are you trying to prove?" she demanded, giving up her futile tries to escape.   
  
"Nothing," Juunanagou whispered. Slowly, he released her, pulling himself into a sitting position of sorts, one leg curled underneath him, the other leg's knee pressed against his chest, one arm lying loosely on the knee. "I," he stated carefully following a minute of silence, "will not say I'm sorry."  
  
"And why not?" Minako rudely replied.  
  
"Because of that!" he seethed. "Because you think I can not feel emotions, can not taste flavors, can not smell scents!"  
  
Caught off-guard, she simply stared at him.  
  
"But you're wrong," he finally continued, chest swelling and depressing with his thick, ragged breathing, "you're very wrong about all of that. I feel sorrow and pain and anger and want and need and trust. I taste orange and tangy and sweet and sour and burnt. I smell the wind and the rain and the thousand little nuances of the perfume you dabbed on your wrists this morning."  
  
Minako blinked, clutching her hand to her left breast, above her heart, still lying on the ground.  
  
He abruptly turned his head away from her, staring unseeingly out at the shining ocean.  
  
"How can you smell my perfume after thirteen hours?" she murmured, not expecting him to hear.  
  
"Are you joking, Minako-chan?" he arched an eyebrow, moving back to her, bending over her as he slid down from his sitting position. "I told you once that Gero improved me. I could tell you exactly what you were eating for breakfast three days ago at precisely ten-fifteen AM just by smelling your breath."  
  
Focusing on the absurd, trying to pay no heed to the serious ring to his words, she joked, "I brush my teeth!"  
  
"You," he growled impatiently, shifting so his face was merely centimeters from hers, "are impossible."  
  
He ducked his head, crushing his lips to hers angrily, molding her surprised, parted lips with his own tempestuous ones.   
  
Minako's eyes nearly defied all physical limitations; that was how quickly they widened.   
  
Juunanagou's were closed, his eyelashes sweeping her cheeks with each pressing motion of his mouth against hers.  
  
Her eyelids drooped shut after a moment and she cursed him silently for doing that to her.  
  
He felt her eyelashes brush his face as she closed them and, without any warning whatsoever, he pulled away sharply.  
  
"You," he said with a low laugh, "taste like oranges."  
  
Blood rushed into her ears, cheeks, and neck, flushing her skin a bright color as he hauled her up to her feet.  
  
"And you smell even better," he murmured in her ear, "than you taste."  
  
Oh, why couldn't she _say_ anything? Her mind moaned and she hit herself mentally.  
  
"W-we should go inside," she finally stuttered and Juunanagou nodded, brushing his fingertips along the curves and hollows of her face before he grasped her hand, lifting her own fingertips to his lips.  
  
"That we should, little goddess," he smiled. "What are we going to tell my sister?"   
  
"We," she shivered when he turned to walk back in, "just had an innocent talk."  
  
"Ah. Indeed."  
  
Staring at his back as they hurried back inside, she fleetingly wondered how many more 'innocent talks' they were going to have in the future…  
  
*****  
  
end "Side Story I | An Innocent Talk"  
  
*****  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	7. A Note

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
A Note  
  
  
Okay, for those wondering, no, I haven't abandoned this fic. I'm trying to get my grades back up and, though I have a basic idea for what's gonna happen, I haven't a clue as to whether I'll be posting a chapter, like, every night, you know?  
  
Soooo…yes, I'm writing on it.  
  
No, I don't think I'll be posting like a madwoman.  
  
Sorry, I just had to get this off my chest. (I feel so guilty for writing so slowly.)  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	8. Broken Dolls and Darkened Evils

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Broken Dolls and Darkened Evils  
  
  
Puar was cradled in Jupiter's arms, half-asleep, his blue tail lazily drifting from side to side as the immensely tall Senshi strode confidently down the corridors, her red-brown hair pulled up in a thick ponytail. The cat creature had put up a struggle at first when she insisted on carrying him, but he eventually surrendered and was happily dozing in her embrace.  
  
Yamucha, needless to say, looked fit to kill his best friend.  
  
"So, I figure, what the hell, might as well do it, right?" the Senshi of Jupiter chattered, her ankle boots, sturdy and compact, clicking faintly on the marble floor. "I mean, I've already died - what, thirty times? Heck if I care about dying thirty-one times. So, that's why I'm here. In the dark. Talking to a sleeping blue furball." She sighed to herself, shaking her head ruefully. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm sane."  
  
"Sometimes I do, too!" Venus cracked and Ginzishou fwapped the woman on the back of her head, causing her to slam into Juunanagou. "Aw, lighten up, Ginzishou-ryuu! I was only joking! Crud, did I hit a metal implant or somethin'?, 'cause I think I broke my nose…"  
  
"Good," he said with an innocent smile and a flutter of his eyelashes, to which she stuck her tongue out and pulled his raven hair cheerfully.  
  
"You two are absolutely incurable," Mercury sighed, depositing her computer into the subspace pocket the Senshi toted around unintentionally, "and I'm afraid there's little will left in me to try and help you both."  
  
"Where there's a will, there's a dead man!" Venus chirped happily and Juunanagou slapped himself in the face, groaning.   
  
Jupiter smiled and shook her head at the blonde's unique way of saying old adages. She shifted Puar, glancing across at Yamucha, then taking a step toward where her friends were, casually looking up at them.  
  
There was a wall right in front of her.  
  
"What the hell?!" she shrieked, jerking back as she almost walked into the marble wall, accidentally tossing Puar over her shoulder.  
  
"Well…," Yamucha stated awkwardly, "I think it's a wall."  
  
//bingo, crap-for-brains. wow, you must have hurt your brain thinking of that//  
  
Jupiter blinked. Was that…Mars' voice? In her head?  
  
//by the by…i'll fight you lot if you don't step to the left//  
  
Not trusting anything mystical in the alternate dimension's palace, Yamucha glared around the general vicinity of where he and his two companions were standing. "You're trying to trick us. You want us to step right, don't you?" That said, he deliberately took a step left…and three corpses promptly erupted from the floor, slashing and hacking at him with deadly, sharply honed blades.  
  
//git. well, looks like i'll need a new group…//  
  
Puar found himself thrown into the air again as Jupiter charged the corpses.  
  
"SUPREME THUNDER!!"  
  
One corpse imploded, smearing into itself with a vaporous odor. One of the other two was blown into smaller pieces, each one shivering and trembling as the walls, yet again, absorbed the grisly remains.  
  
The third remained standing, plunging its sword into Yamucha's left shoulder repeatedly.  
  
"SPARKLING…"  
  
Lightning fairly crackled about her hands and tiara, the golden rod slipping out of the decorative emerald.  
  
"WIDE…"  
  
The corpse turned slightly, empty eye sockets gaping emptily at her.  
  
"PRESSURE!!!!"  
  
It vanished, vaporize completely, and Jupiter lunged forward, catching a falling, knocked out Yamucha in her outstretched arms. "Oh, Yamucha," she breathed, her face near his blood-streaked one, "why couldn't you wait?"  
  
(*)  
  
Trunks pushed back strands of hair from Mercury's face; a deep gouge decorated her jawline and neck where the wall had scraped across her as it came down. She was unconscious; that was understandable due to the bleeding and the pain as the wall had shattered parts of her lower jaw.  
  
"Come now, Mercury-chan," he urged gently, holding her up so her bleeding head rested on his broad shoulder. He could feel, even through his jean-jacket, the warm stickiness of sickly sweet blood and he felt another stab of worry pierce his stomach. "Ami-chan, wake up…"  
  
She moaned, stirred, and fell silent once more.  
  
"Shit," he cursed softly, cradling her limp, fuku-covered body lovingly.  
  
//cute. now, if you're done playing coochie-coo, i have a little something to tell you. you and your little girlie aren't going anywhere. you got in the way, so, since you're both pretty much useless in a fight what with her being banged up and you being all tragic-hero-like, you lost. the only way out is one you have to find. if venus-bitch and android-what-the-hell manage to defeat koibito and i, you'll make it out alive…maybe. if they lose…you're screwed//  
  
"Who are you?" Trunks snarled, wildly twisting his head around, trying to see who was there.  
  
//not particularly bright, are you? i'm metallia, dimwit, and i'm doing something semi-nice, so shut the hell up and don't you ever dare say anything to anyone about this//  
  
"You're going to kill us, aren't you, the instant we move?" he raised an eyebrow, looking eerily like his father.  
  
The feminine voice paused and shrugged. //yeah, pretty much. at least you didn't think I'd actually let you and your bitch live. can't say the same for jupiter and the morons with her//   
  
"What have you done to Rei-san?" His voice had grown quiet and forcibly calm.  
  
//possessed her, separated her from the entity of mars, and what else? oh, yes, i'm going to kill her. have a nice day!//  
  
"WAIT! KUSO!"  
  
Mercury's hand touched his face, her glove cool, if sticky, against his tanned skin. "I'm sorry, Trunks-kun," she murmured drowsily, "I should have been faster…"  
  
Panic welled up in his chest and he held her tighter. "Don't go all dead on me, Ami-chan," he joked weakly, ignoring her Senshi title.  
  
She smiled and laughed even weaker than he had joked, struggling to keep her eyes open.  
  
With a certain degree of horror, he realized she was also bleeding from her torso and thighs. "What in…"  
  
Mercury grimaced, hissing involuntarily as her muscles seized up in a reaction to the slightest of movements. "There was a corpse…behind us…I didn't want you to get hit, so…I…I blocked it…and I suppose I didn't noticed the wall coming down…" She whimpered, tears leaping to her eyes.  
  
"You did that for me…?" he whispered, eyes strangely unfocused and watery.  
  
"Hai, Trunks-kun…" Her breathing was labored and she reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck to stabilize herself. "Trunks-kun…tell me about you and Rei-san and your Gohan-sensei…tell me so I can feel for you…tell me so I can live for you…"  
  
Tears threatened to come down his face as he held another wounded loved one to his body. Voice strained and cracked, he began slowly, telling her everything.  
  
She listened.  
  
(*)  
  
"Shitdamn! Stupid wall!"  
  
Venus clutched her bleeding nose and struck the wall-that-she-could've-sworn-wasn't-there-a-moment-before with her fist, chanting 'stupid wall' repetitively.  
  
"I get," Juunanagou spoke calmly, gently prying her hand away from her nose and pulling off his orange bandanna, pressing it to the blood flow as she slowly blushed, "the idea, Venus-chan."  
  
"Fine," she grumbled, keeping the bandanna up to her nose, "but what the heck's going on?"  
  
"Heck if I know," her pale skinned companion shrugged and Ginzishou rolled her feline eyes, perching on Venus' shoulder.  
  
//hello, my little contestants. nice to see at least someone didn't do anything incredibly stupid like getting stuck under a descending wall or stepping right into a youma nest// The feminine voice paused and chuckled to itself. //anywho, lucky you, you get to come instantly to the battlefield, where i smear you across the marble floor. so, let's go! i wanna kill you slowly and i can't do it here, there's no audience…//  
  
"NANI?!" the three cried at the same time, faces contorted in shock.  
  
And then, in a blinding flash of sick red light, they were gone from the newly formed maze-within-a-maze.  
  
(*)  
  
Kuririn carefully finished making the poultice he had Juuhachigou tie to Chichi's broken wrist with pure white bandages. "There, that should do it."  
  
Gokuu- -or, rather, the shell of Gokuu- -was still unconscious and, not wanting to take chances, he was bound up and kept inside a makeshift force-field boundary Buruma had constructed swiftly and on the spot while Vejiita had to, yet again, hold a gurgling, laughing infant Trunks. There didn't seem to be any likely chance he would be able to break the bonds; according to what they'd witnessed and what Buruma had scanned, the soulless shell had absolutely no ki and had a curiously similar mind-frame to that of an ant drone.  
  
The former monk sighed, running a hand through his newly grown, short black hair.   
  
They never seemed to get a day off.  
  
(*)  
  
"Relax, Gokuu-san," Selenity pleaded; both she and Goten were having to forcefully hold the frantic Saiya-jin- -she wasn't sure how, exactly, he'd managed to go Super Saiya-jin- -back from trying to find a way out, to get to his wife.  
  
"Otousan," Goten finally barked, dropping his normal goofiness like a hot potato, "stop squirming for God's sake! You can't do anything to help okaasan!"  
  
Slowly, Gokuu stopped struggling, shoulders dropping in defeat. "It can't stop me from wanting to," he whispered.  
  
"I understand your pain," Selenity interjected softly, "I have lost my koibito Endymion for the last time…and it hurts to know that our love still exists even without him." Seeing the horrified expression on Gokuu's face, she hastily added, "Not that I'm saying Chichi-san is dead, mind you, I'm just saying I know the kind of helpless pain when a loved one is hurt…"  
  
Goten smiled at her, relieved, and looked up at his father's defeated, lonely face. "Hey, otousan, don't worry. Everything will get better…you'll see. It won't be too long."  
  
"That's right," the petite woman grinned, "because Setsuna-san has sent out a sleep sending that should reach my Senshi and your Senshi in about a day's time."  
  
"And," Goten added on to her words, "they'll come find us."  
  
"See?" the two chimed together, irrepressible in their beaming smiles.  
  
(*)  
  
Metallia landed right behind Rei.  
  
Gohan was staring in horror at a smirking Cell, his Super Saiya-jin power levels leaping, hovering around Super Saiya-jin 2, which he had only reached once before…during the Cell Games…  
  
Rei spun around and Metallia smiled evilly, her round fingernails suddenly ripping out of the silken gloves' cloth, sharp like daggers.  
  
Raising her arm, Metallia sneered coldly. "Sayonara, you little bitch," she crowed and her arm plummeted to Rei's chest.  
  
Gohan turned too late and he saw his newest- -and closest- -friend fall limply to the ground, slipping in pools of her own crimson blood.   
  
A sharp, enraged scream exploded from a corner of the immense chamber and Super Sailor Venus, cause of the scream, leapt forth, Chain Wink Sword held in her hands. Juunanagou and Ginzishou shared one glance and chased after her, hindered down by the wells of dark magic.  
  
Gohan's chest heaved and he surged swiftly into Super Saiya-jin 2, turning to Cell with a final, insane glimmer to his eyes. "Die," he hissed. That one word held more sincerity in it than anything he had said before, more truth than anything he had sworn before.  
  
He threw himself into battle.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Whoa.  
  
Okay, there's two more side stories before the last actual chapter (the big finale…and I think it's an R-rated one, too), and after the last chapter, there will be about three epilogues- -a very emotional Rei one that I won't say anything about, a Minako-and-Juunanagou scented one that has significance, and one that leads into "Shellshocked".   
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
[PS~ Thanks, my wonderful faithful reviewers! That's all the Mars gals, from Chibi Mars to Mars Zero, 90%DevilChild, jupiterschild, SpookeyFyre, and all the rest of ya…you know who you are! Oh, and to the person who admits to liking Gohan-torture stuff…well, barbo-chan, the last chapter is stuffed full of it. But happy endings are my lifeblood, soooo… Review, people! It doesn't take long!]   
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	9. Side Story II | Don't Tell Him

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Set During: Broken Dolls and Darkened Evils |and| Anything For the Girl  
  
Side Story II | Don't Tell Him  
  
*****  
  
"Moron," Jupiter muttered, shifting the unconscious Yamucha into a sitting position against a wall; she had taken apart her gloves and ribbons to dress his superficial wounds as well as force his arm back into the socket of his shoulder; the corpse that had struck multiple times had driven apart the ball-and-socket, dislocating his arm. She looked at him sympathetically, knowing from past experience that he was going to hurt pretty badly from the injury. "You just had to step left, didn't you?"  
  
Puar fell to her shoulder, wrapping his blue tail around her neck protectively. "Don't be upset, Jupiter," he told her, "he will be well soon enough."  
  
"I know, Puar-chan," she smiled bravely, "but I wish I could help destroy Metallia and Cell." Unconsciously, her hands curved into tightly wound fists. She closed her oak green eyes for a brief spell, wavy red-brown hair spilling down the nape of her neck and along her back, tied up by a simple green ponytail holder. "I hate it when I can't fight," her voice was low and contained, "and I want so badly to make them suffer for all the pain they've brought us all." She took a calming breath, distantly bringing her bare hand up to touch the x-shaped battle scar on Yamucha's cheek. "I want her to die slowly for hurting Yamucha," she whispered, voice dropping into a faint hum.  
  
Puar was silent, studying the confusing expressions on her face.  
  
"You're even stranger around Yamucha than Buruma-san was," he said after a moment and Jupiter chuckled.  
  
"I don't know if that's an insult or a compliment, Puar, but thanks." She smiled lopsidedly. "It's nice to know somebody cares enough to comment about something like that."  
  
They lapsed into silence and the dark corridors were still, empty and devoid of movement of any sort.   
  
Jupiter sighed softly and leaned back against the floor, laying down and staring blankly into the bleak darkness. She wondered fleetingly what her friends were doing; she'd seen Mercury get slashed along her torso and legs blocking a blow aimed at Trunks, so she could safely assume they were out of it. But what about Ginzishou? Venus? Juunanagou? Would they be able to save the world? A grin formed on Jupiter's face. Hell, of course they would! She'd seen Venus in action since they were fourteen, thirteen if she counted the newspaper information about Sailor V, and she'd heard about what Juunanagou was capable of from his sister. With Ginzishou's guidance to help them, they'd be able to save the universe, no sweat.  
  
Right?  
  
With Yamucha breathing softly and unevenly beside her and Puar cuddled close to her for comfort, she wasn't so sure anymore.  
  
It was hard to keep up any form of moral when they were trapped in a palace of evil, alone and wounded…  
  
Jupiter wanted nothing more than a moment to cry her heart out.  
  
"Jupiter-san…?"   
  
Puar.  
  
"Hai, Puar-kun?"  
  
"Do you ever wonder why we exist? All we do is work and earn and then spend all we've earned and work some more. What's the point?"  
  
Jupiter thought for a few seconds and she reached up, stroking Puar's furry head gently. "Love," she answered finally, "Family. Truth. Peace. All the thousands of emotions we can experience…"  
  
He was quiet for a moment. "I guess so, Jupiter-san."  
  
She closed her eyes for a second, lulled into a doze by the light feel of Puar resting on her.  
  
"Jupiter-san, do you like Yamucha?"  
  
"Mm-hmm…," she replied honestly, not paying attention to the possibilities of future humiliation.  
  
"A lot?"  
  
"Mm-hmm…"   
  
"Why?"  
  
" 'Cause I just do…"  
  
"Alright then."  
  
"…Don't tell him," she murmured, mind growing wearier and wearier.  
  
"Hai, Jupiter-san. I won't tell him."  
  
Time passed slowly and they slept.  
  
  
  
  
  
Yeah, okay, so it was short. I happen to think Puar's cool and I wanted the cute floating blue kitty to have some interaction with our fave Senshi of Protection.  
  
Next up: Da short Mirai no Trunks/Mercury side story, followed by the last chapter!  
  
Woo-hoo! Maybe I'll get some relaxation before I start "Shellshocked"!  
  
…Yeah, right.  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
[PS~ Thanks again for reviewing! I really want to get as many reviews as I got for "Ai no Yume", which is 57. Please, there's no hit counter anymore, so the only way I know that people are reading is when they review. And barbo-chan, I understand completely. Reading's addictive and having to stop every chapter and review gets annoying.]  
  
[PSS~ If anyone's thinking "A sequel for the sequel?!" and you don't like it, I'm sorry. I'm not the only author who likes to write multiple arcs. Morgan Hudson, author of THE BEST Sailor Moon/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers crossover, Ronin Summer, has, like, seven arcs for his fanfic. I'm shooting for six. As soon as I finish "Ares Denetsu", I'm a third done! YAY!]  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	10. Side Story III | Sang

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Set During: Broken Dolls and Darkened Evils |and| Anything For the Girl  
  
Side Story III | Sang  
  
*****  
  
The soft rise and fall of his baritone voice was quietly comforting and Mercury listened without saying a word, feeling his pain and longing, his rare joys and his constant wonder. She experienced his loss of innocence as he recalled it, the kind of innocence those who don't know true suffering have. She heard his dreams and hate, lived his futility and touched upon his isolated loneliness.  
  
It made all her wounds seem so petty, like they were merely trifles to be ignored in the long run. Trunks had suffered; he had lost his father, his sensei, his Rei-san, half a world, and almost his mother…  
  
Mercury wanted, even in her half-awake blood-sleep, to hold him in place of his holding her, wanted to soothe his long buried hurts, wanted to complete his jagged soul.  
  
He was breathing evenly, in a rhythmic pattern that sang up and down as her sticky face was held to his chest, tucked in his protective arms, her own arms held around his neck. Her eyes were half-lidded, kept open by her need to hear his voice.  
  
She felt safe, comfortable and unafraid. She always did, when she was near him. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so at peace. Mercury was content to be beside him; knowing he was with her was all she needed to know.  
  
Trunks' hand grazed her cheek and he thumbed away strands of her chilly hair away from her pale face, carefully holding her close to him so he could share body heat, keep her warm and secure.  
  
It wasn't what he'd thought it would be like, their first hug. He had never imagined he would be holding her bloody body so tightly just to keep her alive.  
  
Alive…stay alive, Ami-chan, he pleaded in his mind, stay alive for me.  
  
She smiled softly into his jacket, remaining still and supportive as he haltingly continued his bitter tale, whispering the aching words into her receptive ear.  
  
All that surrounded them was darkness, and his sorrow only added to the damp atmosphere.  
  
It seemed that the very evil in the air was drawing closer with every word he said softly.  
  
And when he was done, it was her turn.  
  
She talked slowly and carefully, occasionally coughing up a few specks of blood, though she fought to keep from appearing completely helpless, even if she knew she was.  
  
She told him of the Silver Millenium, of the castles and markets, of the kind peasants and the joy; she told him of the fall from power as Metallia warped and controlled the shy, weak Princess Beryl of Atlantis and the following destruction; she told him of the hope they were given by Queen Selenity before she died, granting them the possibility of a normal life, which was wrecked by Metallia's appearance. Metallia's failure brought the attention of other evils; a pair of aliens who were only misled, trying to save their mother tree; a renegade prince manipulated by an evil creature; a mad scientist and a false goddess; a circus ruled by a cruel magician who controlled another manipulated princess, Neherenia; the dark being known as Chaos, sealed away by Cosmos. Her words were of light and hope, dreams and truths, promising life and light at the end of the hopelessly long tunnel.  
  
He replied, speaking of hate and evil.  
  
She responded, singing of love and good.  
  
He laughed and cradled her lovingly.  
  
She smiled and let her arms fall from his neck, one twisting to hold his upper arm gently, her short blue hair fluffing limply about her crimson-streaked face.  
  
Without knowing what he was doing, Trunks slowly began singing a lullaby he distantly remembered his mother reciting every night religiously, before he saw a murder with his own blue eyes and lost his trusting innocence.   
  
Mercury still smiled, and her brooch glowed softly, a simple blue sheen that caressed her body, protecting her from the attacks and howls of death that haunted the mind.  
  
In the stillness, he sang.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
YES, I know this was short, okay? I wanted to write a quick Trunks/Mercury scene with no actual dialogue. I think for a, what, 1KB thing with no dialogue?, it was pretty good.   
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	11. Anything For the Girl

[[[WARNING!!!! THE FOLLOWING HAS GRAPHIC VIOLENCE (IN MY OWN OPINION, AT LEAST) AND QUITE LIKELY HAS CHARACTER TORTURE TO BOOT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, SO DON'T SAY I'VE TRAUMATIZED YOU.]]]  
  
  
Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Anything For the Girl  
  
  
  
All that existed in Rei's mind was pain. She couldn't see, but she could feel pain, agony, everywhere…  
  
The flesh had been torn in a clean flap off the top of her rib cage, displaying her throbbing lungs and pulsing heart, blood dripping out of severed veins.   
  
She couldn't move.  
  
She didn't want to.  
  
(*)  
  
Gohan avoided Cell's thrusts with frightening ease, a crazed light shining disturbingly from his eyes.  
  
Twisting his body in a previously impossible flip, the hybrid smashed his foot into the back of Cell's head, crushing metal without showing any signs of pain.  
  
Gohan didn't use any ki attacks; he wanted to kill Cell slowly, painfully.   
  
The android was beginning to experience fear. This sheer brutality, utter ruthlessness wasn't what Cell has expected.   
  
"Bastard," the boy sneered, grasping one of Cell's arm with only his left hand, tearing the limb off effortlessly before cauterizing the open wound, effectively stopping the regenerative process.   
  
Cell lunged, managing to get in one hit to Gohan's head. He didn't flinch. He didn't avoid it. He didn't budge when it hit.  
  
Blonde hair stirring stiffly, Gohan shot behind Cell, lifting his hands and driving them into the android's back, battery fluid and blood alike spilling out as he tore through innards, grabbing the thickly corded spine in his hands and jerking back on it.  
  
Cell spasmed and screamed, a horrible sound.  
  
Gohan smirked and heaved harder.  
  
(*)  
  
Venus swung the Chain Wink Sword at Metallia's head, but the cruel entity merely laughed and blocked it carelessly with Mars' Fire Bow, threading an arrow of flames as the golden Senshi was thrown back.  
  
Chanting in the runic language of Mars once more, the arrow was launched at Venus.   
  
Fluidly, she swung at the incoming projectile, slamming it into a distant wall where it dissipated.  
  
"You've grown stronger," Metallia laughed coldly, "but I'm afraid you forget I'm immortal now."  
  
Juunanagou and Ginzishou were thrust back by an unseen barrier, helpless to aid their friends.  
  
"Now, now, Metallia," Venus laughed right back, "so am I."  
  
Metallia's cold smile vanished and, with a bloodcurdling scream, she lifted one hand, summoning a fire attack that burned the skin on Venus' arms in places, peeled the layers back cruelly.  
  
"And now you die," the evil being snickered.  
  
"No, you die!" Venus screamed, lifting the blade and planting her feet squarely in the ground, using the flat of the blade to drive away each offensive attack Metallia sent her way. Metallia was walking closer to the Senshi, falling right into the trap.  
  
The corners of Venus' lips lifted emotionlessly.  
  
Rei bled.  
  
(*)  
  
Blood was spilling dangerously from Cell's back, mixing with battery fluid.  
  
"How does it feel," Gohan whispered into the screaming android's ear, "to become the puppet?" To add emphasis, he yanked viciously on Cell's spine, tearing it out the back, though leaving all nerves connected to it, and the discs still leading to the mechanical brain. "To be played with?" Releasing Cell's spine with one hand, he buried it deeper until he reached a fleshy lung; he simply tore through the delicate synthetic flesh and shattered a hole in the front of Cell, his entire arm and most of his shoulder plunged into the speckled, gushing body.   
  
Smiling widely, Gohan pulled his hand back out of the opening, returning it to the spinal cord.  
  
"Amazing how easy it is for me to destroy you," he chortled, green Super Saiya-jin 2 eyes narrowing coldly. "Sayonara, asshole." With that said, he wrenched on the spine to the left with his left hand and the right with his right hand. A loud, echoing snap resounded and Cell jerked, falling to the ground, still living even as his eyesight dimmed and his fluids and innards spilled to the floor, unable to regenerate with his spine destroyed.  
  
Gohan showed no expression as he raised his hands, dripping blood, saying in a dead voice, "Masenko."  
  
Cell was vaporized on the spot.  
  
(*)  
  
Venus smashed her sword through the bow, annihilating the weapon.  
  
Metallia looked as if she was going to summon her legions of the undead when she heard Gohan's quiet, emotionless voice.   
  
"Masenko."  
  
A brilliant flash of light illuminated the grisly chamber and Metallia's face paled.  
  
"My koibito…" She struggled with her emotions, for, sick as it was, she truly had loved Cell. "You killed him!"  
  
A sharp feeling stung her chest and she glanced down wearily to see the Chain Wink Sword had pierced the heart. Venus twisted the blade and ripped it back out, taking the still-beating heart with it.   
  
A wave of perverse pleasure rippled through Metallia and she threw her head back, screaming and choking with insane laughter. "I've won!" she gurgled crazily, "I might be dead along with my koibito, but I have won nonetheless!"   
  
A sinking emotion drove through Venus' gut. "What do you mean?" she asked slowly, the heart still beating slickly on the blade's edge.  
  
"I'm the only one who knows where the three souls are!" she giggled, blood spurting up in a crimson tide from her red lips and the hole in her chest, "And it appears that you've killed me! I've won! You'll never find them now and…" Her eyes shut abruptly and she dropped to the marble floor, drowning in a puddle of thick blood.  
  
Breathing came fast and erratic for Venus. She had been too caught up in her bloodlust, her need to avenge Rei…and by doing so, she had fumbled everything up again.  
  
Juunanagou broke through the barrier, jogging to her, his face pleading with her.  
  
Why?  
  
The sword was moving her, but she didn't care; Venus ignored Gohan as he kneeled next to Rei's dying ten-year old body, she ignored his horrified cry of "NO!!" when she drove the blade deep into Rei's heart.  
  
Rei and Mars glowed red for only a split second, and then both opened their eyes and sat up.  
  
"Venus," Mars said clearly, smiling, "You have healed me."  
  
Rei smiled, too, and then they were gone, merging back together.  
  
Red light exploded, brightening the black marbled room and suddenly the darkness fled, turning into light, the decaying black marble shifting to healed red sandstone.  
  
And Super Sailor Mars was standing, whole again, but still ten.  
  
Gohan blinked, powering down to his normal self, his sanity returning.  
  
"I will remain ten," she was saying, to him more than to anyone else, "because that is the age you need me in." Mars smiled sweetly at Gohan and he didn't feel uncomfortable anymore; he accepted the tender emotions he felt for her. "But there is someone I must say fare well to," she added softly, a look of pain glimmering across her face, and then she as seventeen, and then she was gone.  
  
Venus' shoulders shook and she dropped the bloody Chain Wink Sword, falling to her hands and knees, vomiting and weeping as Juunanagou and Ginzishou cradled her.  
  
Gohan bowed his head. Come back to me soon, Rei, he thought gently, please.  
  
  
  
  
  
This chapter is dedicated to SpazSailor, one of my best friends and the only person who knew what the chapter was going to be like, as well as the Rei epilogue.  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	12. Epilogue I | Rei and Mirai no Gohan

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Epilogue I | Rei and Mirai no Gohan  
  
*****  
  
She leaned over his bed and touched his face softly, felt the softly wet trails where he had cried silently, alone.  
  
She loved him, it was that simple.  
  
She loved him.  
  
"Gohan," Rei whispered, brushing the back of her bare hand across his cheek, her light gi hanging loosely about her body. "Wake up, my sweet Gohan."  
  
His eyelids fluttered open obediently and he wrinkling his nose, trying to identify the woman leaning over him. "Rei-chan…?"  
  
"Hai. I'm here."  
  
Gohan sat up sharply, grasping her shoulders tightly. "Is it really you?" he asked urgently, searching her face in the moonlight.  
  
"Hai." She touched his short black hair with her fingers, thin spiderline scars marking her thumb and pinky where Metallia has snapped them off and regrown them. "It is me."  
  
Without another word, he moved forward, and touched her lips with his, in a short, gentle kiss. She pulled him into a hug when he stopped the kiss, felt his arms encircle her just as her own arms held him.  
  
'Why did you leave?" he whispered.  
  
"I was called," she replied, resting her head on his shoulder. "I can not stay…"  
  
"Why not?" his voice was soft and nonresistant.   
  
The tears that had been hovering in her eyes spilled out, drenching his shirt. "I am not allowed to return," she choked, "but I want to, so badly."  
  
"Why?" Gohan held one hand to the back of her head, her raven locks looped over a few fingers.  
  
"Because…because I love you…," she whimpered.  
  
He smiled, sadly. "I love you as well, Rei-chan…"  
  
She pulled away, looking up into his scarred face. "I can never return," she told him quietly, voice shaking, "but I can at least love the other Gohan."  
  
"We are," he quipped, "the same."  
  
"Yes," Rei spoke finally. Her connection wore out and she was gone, before they could say good-bye.  
  
In the minutes that followed her disappearance, Gohan heard his bedroom door open and he felt Trunks climb up into his lap.  
  
"Gohan-sensei," the small, lavender-haired boy cried, silver tears decorating his face, "I'm gonna miss Rei-san."  
  
Gohan hugged his charge gently.  
  
"So will I…"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Well? Whaddaya think?  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	13. Epilogue II | Minako and Juunanagou

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Epilogue II | Minako and Juunanagou  
  
*****  
  
They had found the others in two separate groups.   
  
Jupiter and Puar were huddled together for warmth, Yamucha sprawled between them.  
  
Mercury had been bleeding extensively, Trunks holding her and humming something softly.  
  
And now they were home, triumphant.  
  
So why did Minako feel like shit?  
  
She knew; knowing didn't help, as it rarely does when one acts in haste.   
  
She'd been going through several bouts of self-anger, furious at herself one moment, then wanting to curl up and cry for hours the next moment. It was all very confusing.  
  
They'd brought Selenity's body back and, after being force-fed a senzou bean, Mercury had frozen the body of their princess and Son Gokuu to preserve the mortal flesh until their souls could be found.  
  
They had a clue as to where to find the souls - in Mirai no Trunks' time - given to them by Setsuna, Super Sailor Pluto.  
  
And all thoughts of this led full circle back to her foul up, her mess up, her desire to seek revenge on Metallia.  
  
Gohan and Rei were inside, finding comfort as they talked of happier things, of games and dreams.  
  
Minako shivered, her hands on the hilt of the Chain Wink Sword, the tip of which was buried in the sands.  
  
"I can't kiss you and make it better, you know," Juunanagou's voice tilted to her and she heard him come to stand beside her, staring out at the stormy sea, black clouds filling the oppressive air.   
  
"I know," she responded calmly.  
  
"It isn't your fault, you know," he added after a moment. "You did what was right. Even if you had let her live, she would never have told us where to find them."  
  
"How do you know what I did was right?" she asked bitterly.  
  
"I don't." He shrugged. "You're the only one who can know whether or not you did the right thing." He paused, turning to go back into the Kame House, looking at her hunched back. "But I believe in you," he spoke quietly, entering the yellow building.  
  
Minako fell to her knees and wept.  
  
  
  
  
Joy. I'm being a tad depressing, aren't I?  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	14. Epilogue III | Back to the Future (Pun I...

Ares Denetsu  
  
*****  
  
Epilogue III | Back to the Future (Pun Intended)  
  
  
  
"Are you sure you want to go alone?"  
  
"Hai, okaasan. Ami-chan and I are the only ones familiar with my time's landscape."  
  
"Hey…"  
  
"The land has changed from when you were in his timeline, Rei-chan."  
  
"I know, Ami-chan. I still don't like it."  
  
"We'll be fine, Rei-san…I mean, Rei-chan."  
  
"Sayonara, Ami-chan, Trunks-kun!"  
  
"Sayonara minna-san."  
  
"Ja mata!"  
  
For a split second, Trunks and Ami were transparent.  
  
The next, they were gone.  
  
++ ++ ++ ++ ++  
  
end "Ares Denetsu"  
  
++ ++ ++ ++ ++  
  
  
That's it for "Ares Denetsu"! I should be posting the author's notes, the prelude, and the first chapter to "Shellshocked" this evening, hopefully. So don't get all violent. *lol*  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
[PS~ Holy cow!! I've been writing "Ai no Yume" and "Ares Denetsu" in the same MS Word file, and the two stories combined are 100 MS Word text pages! Wow…okay, I know a lot of you are thinking that's a small number, but it's a LOT for me. I've finished a story and it's sequel! YESSSS!!]  
  
[PSS~ I've said it before. Review. Reviewreviewreview.]  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Ares Denetsu" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


End file.
